AUTODESK REVIT is Building Information Modeling (“BIM”) software that allows users to elaborately design three-dimensional structures. REVIT can be used to design complex buildings all the way down to components and assemblies for use in a project. For example, a user can model an entire plumbing or electrical installation within a building. Related components, such as electrical boxes and fittings, can be grouped together to allow a user to more easily find the right parts and use them in the project.
A component in REVIT can actually be an assembly of several parts, saving the user time in generating the REVIT model. The multiple parts can each be designed into the single assembly, with parameters that impact each of the parts. A REVIT user can design a set of similar assemblies by changing the parameters. For example, an electrical junction box could have different numbers of outlets, different shaped outlets, different outlet locations, different protective covers, and different connective pieces.
Because of the sheer number of combinations that can make up assemblies in a REVIT family, groups of assemblies can be unwieldy. First, REVIT can display a vast number of parameters, many of which are not even valid selections for a particular component or assembly. The user cannot easily determine what the parameters are, and how the selections will impact a particular assembly.
As a result, using REVIT for fabrication-level design is particularly difficult. Because fabricated parts and assemblies can be very detailed, more parameters and values are often required. Because there is no easy way to track all these parameters, documenting the fabrication is particularly difficult. In short, REVIT does not currently integrate fabrication-level content into its workflow.
Therefore, a need exists for a system component that can help a user decipher the relevant parameters in a REVIT family for fabrication-level content.